Sep 30, 2020 4 min read

An attorney representing state Rep. Bud Cook asked Washington County President Judge Katherine B. Emery on Tuesday to affirm a February decision by the Office of Open Records about documents he wants from 433 projects funded the Local Share Account of casino gambling.

Cook, R-West Pike Run Township, is seeking 12 years’ worth of information about Local Share Account money derived, by law, from The Meadows Racetrack & Casino.

The LSA is administered by the Washington County Redevelopment Authority, which claims it would cost tens of thousands of dollars in staff time, not counting photocopying, to comply with Cook’s request. Although there have been more than 400 projects funded by public revenue, from sewers to water lines and historic preservation to job training, some of them include multiple contracts.

“This is not something they could push a button and have available,” said Colin Fitch, redevelopment authority solicitor. “If that were the case, we would have made the information available to Mr. Cook.”

The legislator filed right-to-know requests, but the redevelopment authority contends fulfilling it places an unreasonable burden on the agency.

According to an affidavit filed by the redevelopment authority, 2,000 hours of staff time would be required to locate and copy 4,000 accounting records, 17 drawers of which are stored at the agency’s offices in Courthouse Square while others are kept a few miles away in a building on West Chestnut Street near Interstate 70.

A cost estimate provided by the redevelopment authority to provide the information Cook requested totaled $37,000.

“The authority is not a public body that receives any tax revenues or local government funding,” according to a document submitted by the authority. “It does not budget for these types” of requests.

It also claims Cook should be satisfied with audits of the Local Share program and review by the state Department of Community Development, which has the final say over a list of projects recommended by the county commissioners.

“The information is accurate and free from any misstatement or wrongdoing,” the redevelopment authority asserted.

The committee evaluating requests for Local Share money used paper files for the first few years of the program but later switched to computerized file-sharing.

According to a brief Harrisburg attorney Craig Staudenmaier submitted on Cook’s behalf, the redevelopment authority has not offered to give his client digital records for which electronic files exist, nor is its offer to let Cook go through paper files compliant with the state’s open records law.

Cook’s attorney compared the in-person examination of records with a resident of Erie being told he or she could travel to Harrisburg to look at government documents, a distance of nearly 210 miles.

“I’m not going to deny there’s somewhat of a burden,” Staudenmaier said during the approximately 25-minute argument, which Emery conducted via the internet.

“You can’t punish the requester on how the agency keeps its records,” Staudenmaier continued. “The courts and the Legislature have not seen fit to impose that burden on the requester.”

In a document filed with the court, Staudenmaier said Cook is specifically seeking correspondence emailed to or from Jeff Kotula, chairman of the LSA committee, regarding a building in the Alta Vista Business Park in the 49th Legislative District, which Cook represents.

The legislator claims he received only two letters pertaining to a cooperative agreement dated Jan. 2, 2019, that did not include copies of contracts related to LSA money, or correspondence concerning the contracts.

“A cooperative agreement is not the same as contracts between the (redevelopment authority) and grant recipients” that Cook requested in December of last year. Cook’s side said the redevelopment authority provided audits for LSA contracts, but not the actual contracts.

Pennsylvania’s right-to-know law has been in effect for about 11 years, which is, Staudenmaier said, a relatively short period of time.

“They can clearly charge you for duplication,” Emery noted, but Staudenmaier said the law does not allow an agency to require the person requesting the information to pay for labor of the agency’s staff.

Cook is seeking a third, two-year term in the General Assembly. His opponent on the Democratic ticket in the Nov. 3 election is Randy Barli of Coal Center.

In April 2019 Cook began seeking sponsors for a legislation that would repeal law governing the Local Share Account in Washington County and instead direct gambling revenue to school districts to apply to individuals’ property tax bills. According to a Legislature database, Cook has not introduced his proposal in the state House.

Emery, who took the matter under advisement, said she plans to rule within a few weeks.